This research report investigates the contours and content of an emerging paradigm for international aid premised on poverty reduction as part of a global security strategy informed by counter terrorism measures (CTMs) allied to ‘rebuilding’ failed or fragile states. Development cooperation as the ‘first line of defence’ against insecurity is examined in relation to the supposed causes and political labelling of terrorism and violent conflict. The new ‘development for security’ framework is then explored in three dimensions. First, security geography is investigated by establishing an expanded metric for allocating aid. Here measures of development and indicators of the quality of statehood provide eight categories of criteria to identify priority countries for aid investment. A complexity-based perspective of state-society relations is employed to ascertain what contributions civil society could make to realising security-related objectives of improving statehood, specifically in attaining a robust democracy. This analysis challenges the appropriateness and efficacy of the prevailing harmony or partnership model of development. Implications of a security-driven aid framework for civil society are explored in two areas. First, attention is directed at critical dimensions, demands and problems of technical compliance with CTMs faced by nongovernmental development organisations (NGDOs). Second, evolution in the political-economy of NGDOs and issues of identity, strategy and programming in a development for security scenario are explored. The extensive analysis is summarised in four propositions informing NGDO prospects. This broad approach is intended to foster critical awareness and reflection on what a development for security era might imply. Further, it provides an analytic foundation for necessary research on the interplay between civil society and aid as an instrument within an international security agenda.